This disclosure relates generally to the management of power consumption and performance of integrated circuits and systems employing such integrated circuits.
As integrated circuits become more compact and the number of electrical components within integrated circuits increases, managing the power consumed by an integrated circuit becomes a critical operation. Power management is especially important for devices such as mobile telephones, personal music players, laptops, and tablet computer systems that rely on battery power. By managing the power consumed by the integrated circuits in these devices, thermal issues and battery life can be extended.
Frequency scaling, a method in which the operating frequency of a processor is dynamically adjusted, is a known method for managing the power consumed by a processor. While a decrease in the operating frequency of a processor reduces power consumption, it also results in a corresponding decrease in the number of instructions that can be executed by the processor in a given time period, reducing the user's perceived performance. It is therefore desirable to evaluate the operating parameters of a processor in order to determine an optimal operating frequency that balances power management and processor performance.